Reality Check
by CatchingWind
Summary: Dylan never knew her parents, and all Chase wants do do is get away from his. Armed with only a few vague memories, Dylan, along with Chase who she's never met before, take the jump of their life literally! and untangle the mystery of the world's dark past - 25 years before it all happens. Unfortunately, that means meeting their parents and uniting two different species... again


**New story! Yeah, I disappeared for a while, but I'm back! I've been through a lot in the past two months, I may be moving this summer (right now it looks like Sioux Falls, South Dakota. D8 [no offense to South Dakotians!]), and school just got out last Thursday. Hello, eighth grade! And high school honors Geometry!**

**You should see all the videos and pictures I took on the last day of school. :) I'm almost out of memory. Not good…**

**Disclaimer: I only own my characters, who I swear will not be Mary/Gary-Sues!**

Reality Check

_A flag, tattered in multiple places, burning in a flurry of orange flames…_

_ Amity Park's new-ish seal, tattooed on that flag…_

She twitched in her not-so-peaceful slumber, her eyes squeezed tightly shut…

_Sirens, screaming their heads off all over the place…_

_ Her head, pounding to the continuous pulse of the heart belonging to the person holding her…_

The twitching became more violent as the memories progressed, her eyes clenching even tighter…

_A shadowy figure approaching her and the one cradling her…_

_ Herself, being lowered into a barred… thing…_

_ "Dylan!"_

_ A feminine voice…_

Now, sounds began to emit from her throat, barely audible grunts and frantic moans…

_"Dylan!"_

_ That same voice, much more urgent this time…_

_ The whine of a weapon, charging up to obliterate its target…_

_ "DYLAN!"_

_ The unmistakable firing off of a gun_

Her name being called sounded much louder than it should've been…

_Bright, neon green eyes…_

"C'mon, Dylan, wake up already!"

Dylan's eyes flew open and she sat up with a start, breathing heavily and sweating buckets. Her heart fluttered at what seemed to be an impossible rate. As her dark brown eyes adjusted to the sudden morning light, she saw her best friend, Emmie, standing by her bedside.

"It's time for morning chores," she said in a much more monotone voice, rolling her eyes simultaneously.

Dylan just closed her eyes and nodded, gripping her head and trying to grasp a hold of who'd been holding her and who'd been the owner of those haunting green eyes. The thought of daily morning chores awaiting her just made the memory fuzzier.

Emmie noticed this motion and gave a sympathetic smile. She sat down on the raggedy comforter and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It was the dream again, wasn't it?"

Dylan straightened up with a start. "That's just it! It's _not_ a dream, I just know it! It has to do with my parents, Emmie," she exclaimed, quieting down at the end of the last sentence. "I can feel it."

Emmie rolled her lips inside of her mouth, a habit of hers when she was perplexed. She knew Dylan had been raving about this so-called clue to her parents for a few years, but she highly doubted it was. After all, nearly every girl at Clarian's Home for Orphaned Ladies (_Ignore the 'Ladies' part,_ she thought) never found their birth parents, let alone their identities. Yet she hated to let her best friend down.

"Well," she started slowly, trying to think of something to say, "maybe you'll remember something during morning chores." The minute the words left her mouth, she knew that it wasn't right, but if Dylan noticed this, she didn't say anything.

"I guess," Dylan muttered, rising to her feet.

Emmie continued to keep her lips inside of her mouth, debating whether to tell the already depressed Dylan the bad news she'd received a few minutes ago. _She deserves to know. After all, I don't want to spring it on her at the last minute,_ she decided.

"Um, Dylan?" she asked, getting her friend's attention.

"Yeah?"

There went the lips again. "You know how tomorrow is the first day of high school?"

Dylan's piercing eyes met her dull green ones. "This isn't gonna be good, is it?"

Emmie sighed. Might as well get this over with. "Well, they cancelled it because the Homogeans are starting to attack again…" she said slowly.

"What?" Dylan asked almost breathlessly. "Those creeps again?"

Everybody in the modern world knew about the continually growing group known as the Homogeans, or HGs by other people, people who didn't believe ghosts had the right to intermingle with humans. Every history class Dylan had ever taken had taught her about how, 25 years ago, a fourteen-year-old girl (_My age. Ha, _she thought sardonically) saved the world form complete destruction. Almost immediately after the Saving, as it was known, she revealed a secret she had been keeping for almost a year. The ghost girl who called herself Dani Phantom was really just any other ordinary girl who'd happened to have a freak accident, turning her half-ghost.

A year of hot dispute over civil rights brought forth a treaty – that ghosts and humans alike would be treated equally. The Preamble did state "in order to form a more perfect union". That meant everybody got their fair share, like everyone learned in preschool. Peace was ensued all over the world.

That is, until the Homogeans arose.

They argued that ghosts – and half-ghosts – did not deserve the same things humans did. They were basically the anti-ghost version of the KKK – violent and sadistic. Of course, there were people who stood against this, like Dani Phantom, Valerie Gray, head of the new Human-Ghost Interactions branch of government, and quite a few others. At first, the Homogeans were easily defeated, but their supporters continued to grow in size – and violence.

Then, eleven years after the Saving came the Tragedy.

Rumor had been going around that the Homogeans were planning something, something that could change the future of the world. Countries in the eastern hemisphere were already beginning to ensue civil war, but the majority of the western hemisphere was stable. People were trying to forestall the Homogeans' attack, but the efforts were futile.

Because they attacked the home base for the Peacemakers, the pro-ghost/human interactions group, Amity Park. All at once.

And they murdered Dani Phantom.

Of course, the murderer was caught within an hour of the killing and put to the death sentence, but there was no turning back time. The murder weapon had been a modified Fenton Ecto-Gun (the famous Fenton family had gone on to make a whole line of ghost defense products in case if the ghosts broke the treaty), enhanced to kill upon contact.

That was the Tragedy. Many were devastated, including Valerie Gray and Tucker Foley, governor of Indiana (home-state to Amity Park). Memorial days were held, and there was a funeral (limited to close friends and family, of course). Unfortunately, the Tragedy was the final straw for many countries. More than half the world's countries went to civil war, then eventually creating World War III.

Thankfully, that was ended within three years, thanks to Tucker Foley, who'd been elected President a month after the Tragedy. He'd brought the United States out of the war, causing other countries to crumble.

The devastation of World War III left the Homogeans able to take over the crumbled countries. They built up their forces there, using the survivors. In a nutshell, they quietly took over the world.

Life resumed as normal, with Peacemakers trying to bring back the treaty. Of course, whenever they got close to reinstating it, the Homogeans would tear them back down. And ghosts who snuck into the human world to mingle with the Peacemakers and were caught were destroyed, sent into oblivion.

But a few Peacemakers with strong ghostly connections caught word from some of the more amiable ghosts that there was a legend – a legend that prophesied a child of Dani Phantom would unite the ghosts and humans once more and bring prolonged peace to the world. Peacemakers spread the word under the radar of the Homogeans, and the search began for this alleged child.

It was difficult, since there was no indication of age or gender, and they couldn't find anyone. Nobody knew if Dani Phantom even _had_ a child, since the child could've been at a very young age when she was murdered. And there was no record of a father, since he would've been murdered along with Dani Phantom, of course (nobody knew whether she got married or had kids or not because she had a way of keeping under the radar).

The Tragedy had happened when Dylan was only two months old, and the end of World War III had happened when she was about three, so it was hard to remember anything about the Dark Years, as they'd been (and were being) called. The only memories she had from that time period were the scattered ones that kept appearing in her sleep and being admitted into Clarian's almost immediately after the Tragedy (there were a lot of orphaned children after the scenario was over).

The entire story flashed through Dylan's mind within seconds. She'd heard it so many times in her school life that she knew it by heart. No details were left behind.

The thought of the Homogeans uprising again startled her. Sure, there'd been a couple of attacks here and there when the treaty seemed to get close to being reinstated, but this sounded more serious. Like they were planning on creating a second Tragedy.

But who on Earth (or the Ghost Zone) would be their target?

Dylan shook herself out of her little trance and stood up with a sigh. "It's fine, Emmie, really. First day of high school, what does it matter? Safety matters." It took her a while to notice she was babbling.

Great. Her memories were affecting her again.

There were much bigger things on her mind than sweeping the lobby floors or doing the laundry. The combination of the memories and the forever repeated history stirred up something inside of her that had reoccurred a couple of times. She knew it was an insane thought and it probably wasn't true, but she fit all the requirements. She was born before the Tragedy. She was a child. What else was there?

Dylan wondered if she could possibly be that foretold child of Dani Phantom.

**LINE BREAK**

Chase Manson sighed inwardly as his parents scoured his room for any 'dangerous' things that could've somehow made their way into his room overnight. This was a daily occurrence that'd been happening ever since he could remember. He didn't understand how something could sneak into his room while he was asleep. Obviously, he didn't sneak out at night; what was there to be afraid of?

"Dad, there's nothing here! Now can you leave me alone so I can prepare for school tomorrow?" he whined and instantly regretted it. His dad hated it when he whined.

Much to his surprise, though, his dad didn't do anything. Instead, Mr. Manson just turned around slowly and said, "Look, Chase, I know that you don't like this, but your mother and I have to check. What if something is in here that could kill you?"

Chase's brow furrowed. "I highly doubt that, Dad."

Now was when his father started to get a little fed up with Chase's attitude. "And how do you know? You never know if there's something hiding in a corner, waiting to spring up on you."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Abbie Manson looked back and forth from her son to her husband. It wasn't that she was afraid of them breaking out into a fistfight or something, she was just worried. They'd been having more and more of these arguments lately, and she hated seeing them neck and neck with each other. At first, she'd just assumed that it was a teenage phase, but as Chase continued to mature, the arguments just increased in number.

As she looked at her husband, she saw that the tips of his ears were beginning to redden a little bit, just like they always did when he got mad. She knew instantly that Chase had struck a nerve. She braced herself for what was to follow.

"How about a gun that kills your best friend, huh! How about that, Chase?"

Chase fell silent and bit his lip. He knew his dad, Noah Manson, had been best friends with the all-powerful, world-famous Dani Phantom.

Emphasis on _had been_.

Dani's murder (Chase still called it the Tragedy) had caused Noah's carefree and flippant attitude to dissipate, leaving an overprotective father of a son behind. He'd always worried about one of the feared Homogeans tracking him down as a connection to Dani Phantom and killing him, his wife, and his son.

He was so overprotective because, for one thing, he felt as if Dani's nature suddenly became a part of him, making him wildly fond of his son's safety. He also loved his son more than anything in the world, next to his wife, of course.

Unfortunately, Chase didn't get this. It could've been Noah's fault, of course, for not sharing his feelings with his son, but they were guys. They weren't good with feelings.

Chase's face turned sour. "Fine then. I'll just go downstairs and get ready." He was trying not to let his dad's outburst ruin his first day of sophomore year, but it was starting to. He stormed out of the room (_**My**__ room,_ he thought angrily) and started going down the steps.

Noah started to go after his son to share a piece of news with him (not in the tone he wanted to, though), but Abbie held out a hand to stop him.

"I'll tell him," she soothed, placing her hand on his chest and turning to face him. "You go into the bedroom and calm down."

Noah wanted to oppose, but he knew that it would be no use. Abbie may seem like a soft-spoken person at first encounter, but once you got to know her, she was very outgoing. She was a lawyer, for goodness sake! So Noah obeyed and went down the hall.

Abbie traversed down the steps quietly, listening to Chase's obscure mutterings and the stuffing of things. When she hit the first floor, she saw him shoving school supplies carelessly into his new backpack, mouth moving the entire time. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What?" he asked harshly, obviously in a bad mood. He didn't even hesitate in his movements.

"Honey, we just wanted to tell you that you aren't going to school tomorrow," she said in the same tone of voice she'd used on her husband.

Almost instantly, Chase's manner changed. "What?" he asked, much softer this time, as if he were stunned. Which he probably was.

"The first day of school has been cancelled until further notice, sweetie," she replied quickly before he jumped to conclusions of them grounding him from going to school.

All he did was sigh. "Why?" he asked. Maybe, in this mood he was in right now, all he could form were one word sentences. And questions, at that.

Abbie looked down. She debated telling him, but a little voice nagged at her. _He's fifteen. He's old enough to handle it maturely._

"The Homogeans may be attacking in the next few days," she replied bluntly, getting straight to the point.

Chase leaned back to sit on his heels and put his hands on his knees. "Nice."

Abbie frowned. Either this wasn't getting through to him or he was just choosing to ignore it. An idea formed in her head.

"Tell you what. To make up for it, you can go out today. They're allowing pedestrians and drivers to be out and about as long as they carry some sort of weapon with them and return to a place with another person within three hours of leaving," she offered, patting his right pocket. She knew he always put his Swiss Army knife in that pocket, whether it be shorts or pants or it be a wedding or school.

He cracked a small smile, which was all she wanted.

He stood up, re-bending down to give his mother a kiss on the forehead. "Thanks, Mom."

With that, he left the house in a much better mood than he had been.

If only he knew what would happen within minutes of his outdoor trek.

**So yeah, pretty loaded first chapter. Sorry about that. Good thing there's such thing as re-reading!**

**Um, it's part of my AU series, so… go to CynicalWondering's profile to check it out!**

**Next chapter is when the two of them meet and the plot kicks in! I'll get deeper into their feelings and thoughts, too, which may help clear things up.**

**I'm so excited for chapter 3, because it is going to be (hopefully!) funny!**

**If anyone has a better idea for a title, PLEASE submit a suggestion! I am brain dead on titles at the time. Title-block!**

**-CatchingWind**

**P.S. I'm finishing this at 2 in the morning, so please tell me if you think it's too rushed or there are grammatical or technical errors.**

**P.P.S. The only thing I ask you not correct is my interpretation of what happened after the DisAsteriod. I know it may be confusing and it may not be what you want, but I'm pretty proud of it.**

**P.P.P.S. Once again, if you are confused of who Noah is and where Danny went, go to CynicalWondering's profile to get the 411!**


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